🍿 Inneresting #252 - Make it a Blockbuster Night
In the Summer a livelier sound design pumps from speakers 'round the room;
In the Summer an audience's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of BOOM KA-POW DINOSAUR NOISES DINOSAUR NOISES SPAAAAAaaaaaCE SHIP.
– Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Locksley Hall 16 (presented by eMagine)
We're here today for the biggest stories on the biggest screens with the biggest collectible popcorn buckets.
Kicking things off, Allison Michelle Morris gives an overview of what summertime movies are all about, starting with the allure of air conditioning, up to the origin of the summer blockbuster in the 1970s, and into the cinematic universes of the present era.
What qualifies as a summer blockbuster? How has the definition evolved? The Summer Blockbuster is no single genre, but a confluence of timing, zeitgeist, and scale. Consequence of Sound’s staff shares a top 100 list of summer blockbusters that shows the range of stories that fit under the Summer Blockbuster’s big tent.
Perhaps blockbuster doesn't mean much of anything anymore. Angela Watercutter reminds us how summer blockbuster season has always had action movies and sequels, even as existing IP has become a larger share of what's on screen. And yet, we can still have moments like Barbenheimer, where an unlikely pairing of films helmed by respected, artistic directors, builds that old school summer heat.
Brooks Barnes points to changes in audience decision making, where people are less likely to just show up to the theater and pick a movie without planning beforehand. Many of the people Barnes speaks to see the summer movie business changing. There are still plenty of blockbusters. There just isn’t as much middle ground between box office titans and little-seen films.
On a hopeful note, Nico Swan uses the work of Ryan Coogler and Steven Spielberg to hone in on how large-scale audience pleasing movies don't work if they're trying to be something to everyone. Radical specificity brings something deeply personal to a story:
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Previously on Inneresting…
In case you missed it, last issue’s most clicked link, Paula Engebretson’s guide to managing transitions between tasks is targeted mainly for adults with ADHD, but it can also help neurotypical individuals understand how to pivot and refocus.
What else is inneresting?
- If I had a nickel for every music video that dropped this week that looked like the trailer for a surreal limited series, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird it happened twice.
- If you love Danish manifestos on cinema, here comes Dogma 25.
- Maggie Lange points out a less discussed experience where Hollywood has fueled our unrealistic expectations: Bubble Baths
And that’s what’s inneresting this week!
Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team.
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Post-Credits Scene
This is just so charming and it had to go somewhere (even though it's a different kind of Blockbuster).
